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How to hire a professional web testing army

Posted by Dan Berry on Tuesday 21 November 2017

Web testing is tough. It can all too easily get pushed to the sidelines as you try to get out a new release on time or make your latest sprint.

So, you may want to incorporate crowdtesting as part of your web testing strategy. Crowdtesting is when a large number of skilled testers are sourced with a range of expertise and knowledge. Each tester is selected based on their suitability for the given task. These testers can provide feedback at any phase of your web development.

If you do decide to crowdtest, then you’ll get an army of thousands of professional testers all looking at your site - and they can complete weeks of work in just 72 hours.

It’s not just the speed and quality of this service that will benefit your business. You’ll also maximise your device and platform coverage, as well as gain the ability to test in multiple countries.

But, when accessing these large networks of professional global testers, you need to make sure you hire the best brains to analyse your site.

Otherwise, you could get lumbered with a team of poor quality testers that struggle to effectively test your site. And, if bugs are present, you could find it difficult to analyse the information that comes back.

Recruiting the hundreds of people you will need to build a professional web testing network is no mean feat. It takes a tremendous amount of time. What’s more, it can be a difficult process to manage both in the recruitment stages and going forward, given the high volume of people you will have to work with.

As such, many companies outsource their web testing requirements. But how can you make sure you’re working with a professional crowdtesting organisation? Here’s a quick checklist for anyone considering using a third party:

1. Ask about the reporting structure

When you’re working with a website testing company, you need to make sure the lines of communication are as seamless as possible. This is especially true for web testing as, if issues are discovered, you need to be able to understand what has happened and how to recreate the bug. So, ask about the reporting structure and make sure it’s robust enough to address the needs of your business – reporting issues in order of severity is key to enable prioritisation of fixes.

2. Make sure there’s no bug limit

Some crowdtesting operations pay their testers based on how many defects they find. This is a supremely bad idea. Testers could become complacent and focus on finding a large number of low level or trivial bugs to fill their quota, while showstopping bugs that take more time to find and log could be skipped.

At BugFinders we incentivise testers based on the severity of the bugs they find. In this way we encourage testers to take their time and look for the bugs that are most valuable to our clients.

3. Find a large pool of global testers

To truly capitalise on the power of the crowd, you need a diverse range of testers to identify location-specific defects. Not only should you ask which countries the network of testers originate from, ask if they will test in the native language and use local technology and devices to test your site.

4. Check what testing services are on offer

There are a wide range of website testing services available out there. For example, you may want to carry out functional testing to check your site works in the way you expect, or usability testing to streamline the user experience. So, try to find a crowdtesting provider who offers a range of services that match your organisation’s requirements.

5. Ask for case studies and references

A good crowdtesting provider will be able to give you plenty of testimonials from previous clients and companies. If they are not readily available on their website (which they should be) then ask for references. Also, make sure you ask for tangible results, not just a testimonial where it is unclear what was done and how its crowdtesting services improved another organisation.

For example, when BugFinders completed two cycles of regional functional and usability testing over 10 days for Great Eastern Energy, the organisation benefited from a 15.5% decrease in its bounce rate.

If you would like to find out more about how to work with a crowdtesting provider, click here to read our checklist.

Overview

BugFinders is a worldwide leading crowdsourced software testing company.